Lawsuit says current election system discriminates against Latino population

Vista 
Escondido would be the first North County city divided into geographic election districts under a proposed lawsuit settlement submitted Friday in Vista Superior Court.

Judge Earl Maas and attorneys in the case said they expected the settlement to become law April 19, when Maas is scheduled to formally approve the deal unless members of the public raise objections by April 8.

Latinos make up 49 percent of Escondido’s population, but only two Latinos have been elected to the council in the city’s 125-year history.

If the city follows the lead of Escondido public schools when they drew up election districts last year, one of the new districts will be in Latino-dominated central Escondido.

The 20-page settlement calls for the city to be divided into four geographic districts, with one council member representing each area. The entire city would still elect the mayor. The first election affected would be in November 2014.

A panel of three retired judges living in San Diego County would choose a seven-member city committee by Sept. 1 that would draw the districts, according to the settlement. The city would begin soliciting applicants June 1.

The settlement says members of the commission can’t have run for public office, made significant campaign contributions to political candidates or parties, or worked for a political candidate or party in the last decade.

In addition, the members will be prohibited from running for any elected positions in Escondido for five years.

The settlement also lays out criteria for drawing the districts, including “geographic continuity and compactness,” “the integrity of neighborhoods” and “communities of interest.”

In the settlement, Escondido agrees with the lawsuit’s contentions that city elections are plagued by racially polarized voting.

The city also stipulates that the at-large election system it will replace has “impaired the ability of Latino voters to elect candidates of their choice and to influence the outcome of elections.”

The City Council majority has consistently opposed switching to districts. They say districts will unnecessarily divide the city and pit council members against each other for projects.

But council members have said they agreed to settle the suit because the state’s Voting Rights Act makes it nearly impossible for cities to defend themselves against charges of racially polarized voting.

The settlement helps reduce the city’s costs related to the lawsuit by ending it. However, Escondido has agreed to pay $385,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorney and spent $200,000 hiring lawyers to represent the city.

In addition, the city would have to pay all the costs of the redistricting commission, which would include hiring demographic consultants. The city would also have to pay for similar commissions to redraw the districts every 10 years.

But the switch could also create significant turnover on the council over the next four to six years.

Unless the districts happen to be drawn so that each of the council’s four members live in different districts, one or more members will lose their seat by 2016 or sooner.

In addition, the districts may force candidates to seek votes in parts of the city where they have little support. For example, Councilwoman Olga Diaz lives in a part of southeastern Escondido where she hasn’t fared well during council elections in 2006, 2008 and 2012.